Quantum Scalar i6000 Tape Library for Archiving

Quantum Corp. announced a new enterprise tape library uniquely designed to meet the challenges of high data growth while facilitating tape consolidation in tiered storage environments. Quantum’s Scalar i6000 provides a significant increase in capacity, high availability and enhanced security over the previous generation of enterprise library.

The Scalar i6000 also incorporates the company’s next-generation iLayer software with new archiving capabilities and management benefits. This combination of enhanced capabilities and intelligence builds upon Quantum’s position as a worldwide leader in tape automation, providing enterprise customers with a long-term archive and data retention solution optimized for the evolving role of tape in data protection.

In addition to launching the Scalar i6000, Quantum also released version 4.0 of its Quantum Vision, which supports a tiered storage strategy by enhancing centralized monitoring and reporting of Quantum’s Scalar tape libraries and DXi-Series disk-based backup and deduplication products.

"As a result of regulatory compliance, litigation risks and a mix of other internal initiatives, roughly 85 percent of all storage infrastructure deployments today use tape as part of their recovery architecture," said Dave Russell, vice president for Storage Technologies and Strategies at Gartner. "Estimates show that the average annual growth rate of data is 60 percent, so managing this data growth continues to be a top priority for IT. Tape is still the best solution for long-term data retention due to its low total cost of ownership over a multi-year timeframe."

Scalar i6000
At the core of Quantum’s Scalar i6000 is its next-generation iLayer management software. This includes a new iLayer Media Data Integrity Analysis (MeDIA) feature that proactively scans archived cartridges to detect potential media problems so they can be addressed, thereby maintaining data integrity. It provides three levels of media scanning and runs in the background to not impact operations. The Scalar i6000’s integrated iLayer software also offers intelligent monitoring and management to save administrators time and improve system reliability. Its proactive monitoring and advanced diagnostics provide system administrators with up to 75 percent in time savings compared to other tape libraries.

Based on the industry-proven architecture of Quantum’s Scalar i2000, the enterprise-class Scalar i6000 scales up to 12 modules holding over 5,300 cartridges and storing up to 16 PB of data. Combined with the greater capacity and performance improvements from the incorporation of LTO-5 tape drives, the Scalar i6000 saves significant floor space and lowers power and cooling costs. The Scalar i6000 can efficiently and cost-effectively accommodate a user’s data storage growth non-disruptively with capacity-on-demand (COD) and eases tape library management by increasing cartridge import/export capacity and adding bulk load capabilities. Additionally, Quantum’s new tape library is backwards compatible for existing Scalar i2000 library customers who want to take advantage of new Scalar i6000 features.

Quantum’s Scalar i6000 also provides new features to reduce downtime. New control and data path failover features enable the tape library or drive to switch to a redundant path and continue operating. These features enable the Scalar i6000 to overcome network degradation and failures that would normally cause jobs to fail.

Addressing data security concerns, Quantum has added media security notification to its iLayer software to help prevent unauthorized media removal. To further keep data secure – even when stored offsite – the Scalar i6000 not only supports LTO encryption and WORM (write once, read many) but also Scalar Key Manager, a high-availability key management tool that can be seamlessly integrated into existing backup environments. Scalar Key Manager enables customers to easily comply with state and federal regulations and safeguard against the increasingly costly and reputation-damaging data breaches associated with stolen or lost tapes.

"The role of tape is evolving, driving the need for capabilities that enable libraries to be more effective gateways for tiered data retention, both nearline and offline," said Janae Lee, senior vice president of Marketing for Quantum. "Intelligent tape libraries must play a stronger supporting role in long-term media integrity, administrative efficiency and security of data at rest. Because we offer a comprehensive set of data protection solutions, we are uniquely positioned to understand the value of tape as part of a tiered storage architecture that can effectively manage tremendous data growth. The addition of the Scalar i6000 to the Scalar iLayer™ family further demonstrates our commitment to innovation in this segment."

Quantum’s Scalar i6000 represents the latest addition to the Scalar family of tape libraries that addresses data protection needs from small-to-midsized companies to organizations that require highly scalable enterprise-class libraries. According to surveys conducted by an independent third-party research group, 97 percent of IT organizations reported that they are satisfied or better with their Quantum Scalar tape library, and 99 percent would recommend it to other IT departments.

Quantum Vision 4.0
The announcement of Quantum Vision 4.0 provides customers with expanded monitoring, more granular and customizable reporting, and improved alerting and troubleshooting mechanisms as part of Quantum’s centralized backup management software. Additionally, it gives system administrators greater visibility into performance levels, replication and capacity details to enable more informed decisions.

The Scalar i6000 tape library will ship later this quarter. Quantum Vision 4.0 is shipping now. Both products are available to purchase through Quantum and its worldwide channel and distribution partners.